Archive for December 18, 2012

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Washington - Pro-Israel groups, neoconservatives and even some former colleagues on Capitol Hill are confronting President Barack Obama with a growing backlash against Chuck Hagel, the ex-Republican senator tipped as his leading candidate for defense secretary.
Obama's aides have given no sign of dropping Hagel from consideration - even after several American Jewish leaders privately...

Washington - The Pentagon says its top intelligence official, who has been mentioned as a possible candidate to be the next CIA director, is under investigation in connection with information he provided to makers of a movie about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
Pentagon press secretary George Little said Tuesday evening that the investigation of Michael Vickers is being conducted by the...

Washington - An independent panel charged with investigating the deadly Sept. 11 attack in Libya that killed a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans has concluded that systematic management failures at the State Department led to inadequate security that left the diplomatic mission vulnerable.
Despite those failures, the Accountability Review Board determined that no individual American...

Silicon Valley, CA - Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Tuesday he is donating nearly $500 million in stock to a Silicon Valley charity with the aim of funding health and education issues.
Zuckerberg donated 18 million Facebook shares, valued at $498.8 million based on their Tuesday closing price. The beneficiary is the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a nonprofit that works with donors to...

New York, NY - Joseph Lhota is stepping down as chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to mount a run for mayor, The New York Times reported late Tuesday.
Lhota is expected to officially resign Friday to announce his candidacy on the Republican ticket, the Times reported. He has already informed Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration of his plans, the paper reported.
Lhota, a...

Washington - The United States has eliminated more than 20 of al Qaeda's top 30 leaders based in Afghanistan and Pakistan from the battlefield since Barack Obama became president, a top U.S. government security official said on Tuesday.
Daniel Benjamin, head of the State Department's counterterrorism bureau, said that when Obama took office in 2009, al Qaeda's central organization, then led by...

New York - NBC was able to keep the abduction of chief Middle East correspondent Richard Engel in Syria largely a secret until he escaped late Monday because it persuaded some of this country's most prominent news organizations to hold back on the story.
Otherwise, the disappearance of Engel — probably the most high-profile international television reporter on a U.S. network — would have...

New York, NY - As the battle to require New York City parents to give their consent before metzitza b'peh can be performed on their newborn sons continues to wage on, a United States district court judge issued a continuation of the stay order that has been in effect for the last several months.
In a brief oral argument that took place Tuesday before Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald, attorneys for...

Manhattan, NY - The most comprehensive study of potential World Trade Center-related cancers raises more questions than it answers and won't end a debate over whether the attacks were really a cause.
The study suggests possible links with prostate, thyroid and a type of blood cancer among rescue and recovery workers exposed to toxic debris from the terrorist attacks. But there were few total...

Detroit - Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has vetoed legislation that would allow concealed weapons in churches, schools and daycare centers.
The Republican governor said in a release Tuesday that public venues need clear legal authority to ban firearms "if they see fit to do so."
Snyder told The Associated Press Monday he was scrutinizing the bill after Friday's massacre at a Connecticut school...

Washington - The National Rifle Association said on Tuesday it is "prepared to offer meaningful contributions" to prevent future massacres like the Connecticut shooting on Friday, marking a sharp change in tone for the nation's largest gun rights group.
"The National Rifle Association of America is made up of four million moms and dads, sons and daughters - and we were shocked, saddened and...

Washington - In unusually rare and blunt criticism of its top Mideast ally, the Obama administration has slammed Israel for continuing to announce new settlement construction on land claimed by the Palestinians.
The State Department accused Israel on Tuesday of engaging in a "pattern of provocative action" that run counter to statements from Israeli leaders that they are committed to peace...

Stamford, CT - Until this weekend I had never heard of Noah Pozner, or of his family. But Noah’s father, Lenny, has a friend, and the friend had heard of us and called.
“They need you. You can speak to them, you can relate to them. Come, please come.”
There isn’t much to say to a request like that. I knew why we had been called. It was not only because my husband is a compassionate...

Fort Lauderdale, FL - Federal prosecutors say a South Florida man arrested last month plotted to set off a bomb in New York City to avenge deaths in Afghanistan.
Prosecutor Karen Gilbert said during a detention hearing Tuesday that 20-year-old Raees Alam Qazi traveled to New York on Nov. 23 to obtain explosives and conduct an attack on an unspecified target. But Qazi was not successful and...

Washington - President Barack Obama supports U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein's effort to craft legislation to reinstate an assault-weapons ban and would also back any law to close a loophole in gun-show sales, the White House said on Tuesday.
White House spokesman Jay Carney offered some of the first specifics on how Obama intends to make good on his promise to address gun violence in the...